There is nothing wrong with anybody's race. It is just a matter of what stage of development we are in. While there has been an increasingly growing civic sense with greater awareness, education and exposure, there is a lot to be desired. And this can't happen with a single organization or political party or individual. It has to be a collective effort in brushing aside the allegation that Indians lack civic sense and discipline.
Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam once said in a speech that Indians would never litter in Singapore or ask a policeman 'Do you know who I am?' in the US. So true! We see Indians behaving in a very civilized manner outside India. But many of these people spit on and litter the roads in their home country. Why?
It is because they are not stopped from doing it nor penalized for it. Of course there are laws to prevent it, but none of them are implemented. A man who is self-conscious and aware of the sanctity of his surroundings, and has a good sense of hygiene, never litters anywhere he goes- penalty or no penalty. But for those who are not that self-disciplined, need laws that penalize such acts. Nobody wants to pay up a hefty fine, and hence they all will comply to the rules. We are the most indisciplined and arrogant on roads and public places compared to people of other countries. We show no or least respect for public property and never mind in spitting, dumping or vandalizing them and even go to the extent of damaging historical monuments.
Cleanliness and discipline are systemic things. Apart from development, we should also focus on changing habits through laws and public campaigning. Our habits are a factor of the environment, law enforcement and education levels. As we change them, we will learn cleanliness too. One of our favorite deeds is to attribute more ills to our country, which is not without reason either. On most roads and public places, there is a gross shortage of garbage bins and spittoons. Even where one or two are kept, they'll either be overflowing or just ill-placed. Public urinals are far too few and generally, ill-maintained.
Many of us have a feeling that even if the infrastructure is in place, why should we use them? We are paying for it in the form of tax. After all, rules and public property are meant to be broken! Most of our laws are limited to the Constitution. No one catches or punishes people for committing civic offences. Even if get caught on rare occasions, we can always bribe our ways out. A person with influence can get out of it in a phone call. We have the largest illiterate population in the world. A country like ours with a very low literacy rate combined with poor infrastructure for primary education, it is not easy to teach civic sense and emphasize on value-based education.( 26% of our population is illiterate)
We believe that we are a free country in every sense. A combination of some of the above factors builds a notion within us that freedom does not have the additional catch of responsibilities attached to them. Just like the administration forgets about laws and rules, we have also conveniently forgotten about our Fundamental Duties and always remember only our Fundamental Rights. Ignorance is probably one of the standout factors among us. From politics to laws to civic sense, we are pretty unmindful of them. We are instead, happier to live in our cocoons and for us; ignorance is bliss as long as we aren't affected in any way. As long as our homes are clean, why bother about someone littering the roads. As long as the property broken is not something we are related to, who cares? We are too driven towards our personal goals to care about civic sense as an ethic.
Lack of cleanliness is not a monetary accountability. It's also the way society views that particular act. Everybody sees a dirty environment and assumes that since it’s already dirty, littering more is not going to make a difference. If majority of us followed traffic rules, never littered the streets, queued up like civilized citizens and protected our historical monuments from juvenile scribbling by adults, then the rest few will have to change. Nobody wants to be publicly shamed or singled out for doing a dirty act. Social exclusion is a big enough threat to change a person’s attitude, habits and behavior. But if the majority is doing something wrong, the mob mentality wins and something unjustified suddenly becomes a normal day-to-day occurrence. The few keep trying to explain the need for civic-sense to the rest, and keep hoping that things will change, and the numbers will get reversed some day.
Parents and teachers in a combined way can create a clean sensed generation. Parents as they are worried about the grades of their children at school and try to teach them Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology etc at extra cost and time or as they put effort to train them to win a crore worth flat through singing or dancing, should put a little time to teach civic conduct and social duties. Basically, no one think it is imperative that we learn to respect our environment, be courteous towards other people and learn to empathize. Granted, these are the things they should be learning on their own, isn't it be nice if in those 16 years of learning, someone drilled into them the concept of courteousness?
An understanding of the cultural fabric from Ancient India will definitely create a civic and environment sensitive personality. Ancient India is believed to have given rise to spectacular civilizations from Mohenjo-Daro to Harrapa and from Mauryans to Vijaynagras. We learn more about the Kings and their wars. Little is known and taught about their public life, though we know that the then Indians had and obeyed a great sense of private and public discipline. Systems, rules and curriculum must be developed and taught so that in public life that ensures public discipline, credits of which go to the value system prevalent at those times, ownership of public space, sanctity of private space and treating the land as mother land in the spirit of the word.
A leader’s voice must be heard for him to be accepted, or else how wise he is , turns out to be an outcast. Our new prime minister is heard by majority, even by opponents. “SWATCH BHARATH”!!
Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam once said in a speech that Indians would never litter in Singapore or ask a policeman 'Do you know who I am?' in the US. So true! We see Indians behaving in a very civilized manner outside India. But many of these people spit on and litter the roads in their home country. Why?
It is because they are not stopped from doing it nor penalized for it. Of course there are laws to prevent it, but none of them are implemented. A man who is self-conscious and aware of the sanctity of his surroundings, and has a good sense of hygiene, never litters anywhere he goes- penalty or no penalty. But for those who are not that self-disciplined, need laws that penalize such acts. Nobody wants to pay up a hefty fine, and hence they all will comply to the rules. We are the most indisciplined and arrogant on roads and public places compared to people of other countries. We show no or least respect for public property and never mind in spitting, dumping or vandalizing them and even go to the extent of damaging historical monuments.
Cleanliness and discipline are systemic things. Apart from development, we should also focus on changing habits through laws and public campaigning. Our habits are a factor of the environment, law enforcement and education levels. As we change them, we will learn cleanliness too. One of our favorite deeds is to attribute more ills to our country, which is not without reason either. On most roads and public places, there is a gross shortage of garbage bins and spittoons. Even where one or two are kept, they'll either be overflowing or just ill-placed. Public urinals are far too few and generally, ill-maintained.
Many of us have a feeling that even if the infrastructure is in place, why should we use them? We are paying for it in the form of tax. After all, rules and public property are meant to be broken! Most of our laws are limited to the Constitution. No one catches or punishes people for committing civic offences. Even if get caught on rare occasions, we can always bribe our ways out. A person with influence can get out of it in a phone call. We have the largest illiterate population in the world. A country like ours with a very low literacy rate combined with poor infrastructure for primary education, it is not easy to teach civic sense and emphasize on value-based education.( 26% of our population is illiterate)
We believe that we are a free country in every sense. A combination of some of the above factors builds a notion within us that freedom does not have the additional catch of responsibilities attached to them. Just like the administration forgets about laws and rules, we have also conveniently forgotten about our Fundamental Duties and always remember only our Fundamental Rights. Ignorance is probably one of the standout factors among us. From politics to laws to civic sense, we are pretty unmindful of them. We are instead, happier to live in our cocoons and for us; ignorance is bliss as long as we aren't affected in any way. As long as our homes are clean, why bother about someone littering the roads. As long as the property broken is not something we are related to, who cares? We are too driven towards our personal goals to care about civic sense as an ethic.
Lack of cleanliness is not a monetary accountability. It's also the way society views that particular act. Everybody sees a dirty environment and assumes that since it’s already dirty, littering more is not going to make a difference. If majority of us followed traffic rules, never littered the streets, queued up like civilized citizens and protected our historical monuments from juvenile scribbling by adults, then the rest few will have to change. Nobody wants to be publicly shamed or singled out for doing a dirty act. Social exclusion is a big enough threat to change a person’s attitude, habits and behavior. But if the majority is doing something wrong, the mob mentality wins and something unjustified suddenly becomes a normal day-to-day occurrence. The few keep trying to explain the need for civic-sense to the rest, and keep hoping that things will change, and the numbers will get reversed some day.
Parents and teachers in a combined way can create a clean sensed generation. Parents as they are worried about the grades of their children at school and try to teach them Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology etc at extra cost and time or as they put effort to train them to win a crore worth flat through singing or dancing, should put a little time to teach civic conduct and social duties. Basically, no one think it is imperative that we learn to respect our environment, be courteous towards other people and learn to empathize. Granted, these are the things they should be learning on their own, isn't it be nice if in those 16 years of learning, someone drilled into them the concept of courteousness?
An understanding of the cultural fabric from Ancient India will definitely create a civic and environment sensitive personality. Ancient India is believed to have given rise to spectacular civilizations from Mohenjo-Daro to Harrapa and from Mauryans to Vijaynagras. We learn more about the Kings and their wars. Little is known and taught about their public life, though we know that the then Indians had and obeyed a great sense of private and public discipline. Systems, rules and curriculum must be developed and taught so that in public life that ensures public discipline, credits of which go to the value system prevalent at those times, ownership of public space, sanctity of private space and treating the land as mother land in the spirit of the word.
A leader’s voice must be heard for him to be accepted, or else how wise he is , turns out to be an outcast. Our new prime minister is heard by majority, even by opponents. “SWATCH BHARATH”!!
